Fortress
by Illusions of Serendipity
Summary: A father's sins are a prison for his children. One escapes, while the other serves a life sentence. —O/S


_**Prompts came from various websites and generators. Contains incest, rape/non-con, and child abuse.**_

* * *

 _ **Skeletons in the closet**_

No closet runs deep enough.

 _ **Games**_

The progeny of his flesh, blood, and bone owe an immeasurable debt, as he has gifted them with their very existence. Pieces of himself may be used in any manner he sees fit. Zuko; a pawn to station on the front lines and sacrifice when it suits. Azula; a queen to serve her king and destroy their enemies.

 _ **Innocent**_

"I want to marry Daddy!" the seven year old declares.

"Honey, you can't marry Daddy. I'm sorry," says her mother.

 _ **Outcast**_

A father's cruel brand of discipline leaves his son mottled with bruises where rigid hands battered mercilessly.

 _ **Obsession is such an ugly word**_

He cannot help noticing that his daughter has begun to develop, curves blossoming in most wanted places...

 _ **Fighting**_

Another attempt at a new form proves futile, leaving him flat on his back for the umpteenth time. He has not failed. He knows that. Determined as always, the boy stumbles to his feet. To give up is to fail, and Zuko won't give up. Like Mother said, he's someone who keeps fighting even though it's hard.

"Such unfaltering tenacity is almost endearing."

"How long have you been watching?"

"I have watched you disappoint me for twelve years, Prince Zuko."

 _ **Hourglass**_

If it were possible to still the sands of time, he would keep her forever.

 _ **Not enough**_

Zuko does not recall ever having been enough through the eyes of the man he calls Father.

"I am beginning to think that you enjoy humiliating me, boy."

 _ **Proud**_

Ursa had tried to suppress, infect, corrupt... Seeking the ruination of his daughter, his prodigy, his pride... All to no avail. With her gone, Ozai nurtured ambition, vanity, and sadism to create something he thinks wondrous. After ridding himself of a persistent source of shame, Azula is unsurprisingly declared his chosen heir.

 _ **Darling, I want to destroy you**_

"You are so beautiful..."

By age thirteen, the infamously cunning princess clings to one hollow semblance of innocence _—_ virginity. Stricken in fear, she offers no defiance against the covetous fervor and greed of her father's perverse lust as he lays claim to his own daughter. The Fire Lord does not make love; Instead he wages war between her legs, blood staining the battlefield of satin as testament.

 _ **Aftermath**_

Agony.

"It still hurts..."

"What is pain, my darling?"

"Pain is weakness leaving the body."

Raw and sore for days, she suffers in silence while holding her head high. Zuko is weak. She is strong.

 _ **Ugly**_

Father may have cursed him with monster skin, but Azula is the real monster. The hideously inhuman thing he is so well acquainted with has a pretty facade.

 _ **Euphoria**_

With such a delicacy splayed out before him, burning desire to devour warms an ordinarily selfish man. His masterful tongue licks, lashes, and lavishes, savoring how sweet the princess tastes on it.

"D-don't stop...Daddy...don't stop..." she pants.

The moment he brings her to orgasm is singularly glorious; Thighs tense involuntarily around either side of his head and she trembles violently in unadulterated bliss while helpless, pleasured cries sing him a symphony of one thousand praises.

 _ **Butterflies on her arms**_

The butterflies mar alabaster skin; blue, purple, black.

"Why do you make me hurt you?"

 _ **A spoonful of sugar makes the lies go down**_

It is necessary to teach a son respect. Father had to punish him. Father knows best. Everything he has done was to shape his heir into a great Fire Lord. A weak link must be soldered or the entire chain falls to pieces. Suffering had taught him well indeed and he is determined to prove it. The end will justify the means.

 _ **All dolled up**_

To be reassured that he does not grow bored of her, Azula deliberately provokes his jealousy when feeling insecure. Painted like a prostitute, she captures the attentions of a certain admiral. As he marvels at her grace and beauty, her father's eyes are blazing fire and would smite the offending naval official where he stands if granted the power to do so. It is no coincidence when he catches her alone shortly after.

"Zhao is a foolish man _,_ coveting what is _mine_ ," he snarls, dragging her off to a dark room.

Teeth gnaw at her neck; hands roughly knead her breasts. He bends her over on the floor to take her so forcefully, she nearly bites through her lip to stay quiet as possible. Ecstasy and torture so deliciously intertwined, the act itself feels painful more than anything but his complete domination of her body and senses is something she relishes in. Between brutal thrusts, he declares _"You belong to me"_ over and again.

 _ **Mirror, mirror**_

For the first time, he strikes her face. Upon retiring to his chambers later in the evening, he drinks in a familiar, yet appreciated sight sprawled out across his bed invitingly, eager to attend to the desires of her liege-lord and father. When his hand cups her chin, he nearly gasps in horror. The blow has left her eye swollen shut, accompanied by blackened pools of ruptured blood vessels. Gently, his fingertips assess it and she winces in response.

"Forgive me, Azula. This was not my intention."

 _Ursa, my love. I didn't mean it. I won't hurt you anymore._

 _I hate you! I hate you and I hate this child!_

 _Please...don't say that._

 _I can feel your spawn festering inside of me. It's evil! I can only hope this disgusting thing dies before I see it grow up to be just like its father!  
_

 _How dare you! Spiteful bitch! How dare you curse my second-born!_

"I know. Am I still pretty, Daddy?"

"Of course, little princess."

 _ **Falling away with you**_

He feels safe in Mai's arms, for she is the sliver of light shining through dreary storm clouds that shroud his world in darkness.

 _ **All that glitters**_

Born lucky? Zuko acts as though she has not earned the right to be their father's favorite child. She more than earned it by being everything that he wants: loyal daughter, firebending master, renowned conqueror, military strategist, trusted adviser... even his whore. Unlike her petulant brother claims, luck is of little significance in their lives.

"All that glitters is not gold, Zuzu."

 _ **I must confess that I feel like a monster**_

"Mother thought I was a monster."

"I see no monster; only power, beauty... _perfection._ Besides, she is nothing to us now."

 _ **As you wish**_

"Azula, my love...anything for you."

 _ **Touching the clouds  
**_

She appears oddly comfortable in Father's bed, heating a small lamp while sucking an ornate pipe. The exhaled plume of white smoke overwhelms the room in a nauseatingly saccharine haze. His face contorts with aversion, certain he will never forget the odor that clings to his sinuses.

"What are you doing?"

"Chasing the dragon. You've never tried it?"

One day, Zuko will fondly recall the scent of opium smoke and be grateful to have never forgotten it.

 _ **Asphyxiate**_

Even when she is not trapped underneath him, he still manages to suffocate her.

 _ **Closed doors**_

"Your sister is not feeling well, Zuko. I attend to her needs."

 _ **One more step and you'll fall**_

"You can talk to me. No matter what's happened between us in the past, I'm still your brother."

"I have nothing to say to you."

"I know something isn't right. Father, did he...what is going on? Please, Azula...just talk to me. Trust me."

" _Trust me_ , you do not want to have this conversation."

 _ **Hero**_

When childhood friends reveal themselves to be snakes, Father comes to her rescue.

"I would never betray you."

She slips into bed with him, as if she is still that little girl hiding from nightmares. When he cradles her to his chest, she melts into the familiar embrace. Honeyed words and tender kisses lull her to sleep.

 _ **Reality leaves a horrible taste sometimes**_

"He gave me what was thought to be an impossible task...because he never wanted me to come home. Uncle, you must have known that."

"I did not have the heart to divulge the truth. Hope was the only thing that carried you through the tumultuous seas."

 _ **Phoenix risen**_

"When I emerge victorious, all the world will bow to us. A king and his queen: Who would dare to stand in the way of our union?"

 _ **Runs in the family**_

History repeats. The second-born, twisted into something vile by a wretched father, usurps the birth right of the first-born and leaves destruction in their wake.

 _ **I'm not a girl, I'm a storm with skin**_

Truly a force of nature is the maelstrom of electricity, azure flames, and deadly precision that is Azula. With her hands, she calls the lightning. With her will, she manipulates it to strike anything in her path. Volatile like many a storm before her, she spirals beyond all control and is her own demise.

 _ **Healing**_

The wounds on his body leave scars, but his mind will heal. The wounds on her body heal, but her mind is forever scarred.

 _ **Opheliac**_

Left to rot in a sanitarium, she cries out night after night for the one person who can save her from this living nightmare of endless screams and forsaken souls.

"Daddy, help me! Daddy? Daddy! Daddy!"

Her strength was an illusion. Everything is broken.

 _ **Reincarnation**_

Something magnificent emerges from a shriveled cocoon that died to reach its final form. Though the flutter of a butterfly's wings can bring chaos, his create harmony.

 _ **Bricks**_

Brick by brick, the father built a fortress that trapped them within and silenced any screams.

Brick by brick, the daughter built a wall that crumbled away with her sanity.

With no use for bricks, the son wished upon stars and those forlorn pleas became his reality.

 _ **Where are the children?**_

Ill-favored by fate and crushed under the weight of a dynasty, never were there any.


End file.
